KT Life Studios is now Live! Portraits, Fine Art, Stock and more.

I have dabbled in stock photography, as you have seen. I have even shot a few events for a friend. But, it is FINALLY time to make the big move. Tanya and I have set up a new website at KT Life Studios for Portraits and fine art. We are VERY excited to start this new photography studio. We are offering portraits, some of my fine art prints, and assignment photography. I will also be opening up a stock photography gallery to sell my stock photographs on. Tanya and I are very excited about this new opportunity to share our art with others.

It's Thanksgiving!

So, my girlfriend is just about the most amazing cook you could ever find. My parents were out of town, so this year, we did Thanksgiving ourselves. We invited a few friends over, and cooked up the full spread. I fired up my smoker, and smoked a pork shoulder, Ham, Beer-can-chicken, 5 turkey legs, 1 large summer suasage, and 4 heads of garlic. It went GREAT. My girlfriend now knows WHY I love to smoke. It is so damn tasty. So, to compliment the meats I was cooking, she did a green bean casserol, deviled eggs, some amazing mashed potatoes, some equally amazing sweet potatoes. So, after having this amazing spread, it was time for me to take some pictures. Food photography is something I have never done before, and I didn't really set it up. This is just how it came to the table. I was very happy with the results.

Mashed Potatoes.



Sweet Potatoes with Coconut.



Spiral Cut Ham, smoked and glazed.



Last but not least, no Thanksgiving is right, without Deviled Eggs!

i Make Decisions (iPhone and iTouch) is up on Idahostatesman.com

I thought some people may find this of interest. My old boss's app, iMakeDecisions, is featured on Idahostatesman.com. This is pretty cool. It says he reached the top 100, which is HUGE for the application. I wanted to pass this information on, say congrats! Now, this needs to get moved over to the Android platform, for the Tmobile G1. :-)

Night time HDR.

Here is my latest picture. The sky was dark, and the moon was peeking through the clouds. The backlight on the clouds added texture, giving the sky a deep texture. I shot the picture through skeletal branches, giving it a more eerie look. Those pictures were ok, but when it was combined in HDR, I think the picture really popped. It creates a very spooky feeling, getting a broader dynamic range.

Pick a winner, make a decision: i Make Decisions for the iphone and ipod touch from Apple.

I have a friend that has released a new iphone/Itouch/Ipod Touch application called i Make Decisions. The site is iMakeDecisions.
i Make Decisions is a GREAT program to help you through those rough patches in life. When you reach a fork in the road, it is always better to let the winds of chance decide, since they will not let you down, unlike your cluttered thinking. That is where iMakeDecisions comes in. i Make Decisions has a bunch of decision making applications, in one. The program includes Magic Eight Ball, Coin flip, random number generators (for you web designers out there, get the creative muse jump started with a random color generator), wishbone, rock paper scissors, will it stick, darts, random card, which way, spinner, and stats for some of the pieces. This thing has it all. And, making effective decisions is ALWAYS a good place to start!

So, if you STILL want more information, you can check out the press release at http://pitch.pe/1253.

You can download i Make Decisions through the website, or click on this link which takes you right to the apple store.

I am good friends with the people that made this app. They are some terrific guys, that definitely deserve the measly $1.99 for this app. You will easily get more use out of it, than that little bit of money.

Finding the moment...

I am sure most readers have been told about the golden hour. That one hour period just after sunup, and just before sunset, where the world is bathed in a magical, golden glow, softer shadows are present, basically, perfect light for photography. So, looking for "The Shot", I went out driving recently, into the farmland about an hour west of where I live. The night before, I was a LITTLE slow getting out the door, and there was an amazing sunset that I missed. I got out earlier this next day, unfortunately, the amazing sunset of the night before, was not there this night. But, I drove around, looking for angles, and looking for interesting pictures.

Photography does an amazing thing to one's way of thinking. You quit looking at things, and start SEEING things. How the light plays across the sky, or a dropping sun bottom lights clouds high up above your head, even though it has dipped over the horizon. How the "feel" of a room is completely changed, by a coat of light green paint. It has been a truely eye-opening experience. So, I have driven out in this area all my life, yet never SAW the area. I am now looking all over to find fun and interesting things to shoot. Unforutnately, I found out where I went, at least initially was pretty dang boring.

After that false start, I found this little area. First, there was an old, small cemetary. Maybe two dozen grave markers were there. It was just a small plot, in the edge of a field.

After I found this, just down the road, was an old church. The cross laying against the side, with the shadow of an old basketball hooop I found to be a great contrast. Also the front of the church, showing its age. The weathered, serene church comes from a different time. A church that has seen generations.

As the sun went down, I couldnt find a great sunset shot. I was disappointed in that. I continued to drive around, looking for some fall color, to come back to. I had not been out to lake lowell, since I was a child. So, I decided to follow the signs to go out that direction. I ended up coming over a hill, and was presented with a great shot of colors along the side of the lake. Unfortuantely, the light was too low for a decent shot. It was VERY bland. I continued driving around, scouting for some more spots to come back to. The darkness was closing in, and my photography was over the night... at least, until I came around a corner, and saw this amazing color.

I was amazed by the color. I used my XSi's live view. By moving the reticle, I changed the look and feel of the color, by changing where I was looking at, for exposure. I took a bunch of pictures here, and they pretty much all turned out perfect. The ones I posted, were just a little MORE perfect.

On the way home, I came across an interesting intersection, and had to get a picture of it.

Finally, on the way home, I had been wanting to get a panorama shot of Boise, at night, which I did.